Fearful Symmetry and the Cursed Prince takes a mechanic that has appeared many, many times before. You control one character, and the other character mirrors your movements. If you go up, the other ones goes down. You go left, he goes right. It's an elementary puzzle element that has appeared in many other games, including the Legend of Zelda series.

Where Fearful Symmetry differs is that it takes the idea and forms a whole game around it. The screen is split into two portions. You control the character on the left, and the character on the right mirrors your movements. The characters do not have any life points- if one of the characters falls into one of the many traps or monsters, then both are defeated and the level is lost. You will have to start again from the beginning. Fortunately, the levels are pretty quick to solve, and while some do require quick reflexes to get through, most rely on careful thinking and trial-and-error gameplay. There aren't any random elements to the game, so once a solution is discovered, it will always be the same solution for that character.

There are three characters to choose from. The first one, and default, is named Hero, and he doesn't have any special abilities. The other two need to be unlocked: Haim, who has the ability to teleport one square away in the direction he is facing; and Nulan, a sorceress who can light things on fire. The main levels can be solved with all three, and with their different abilities, different solutions can be found with each character. Unfortunately, sometimes the solutions are too easy with certain characters. Some of the bonus levels require the use of specific heroes. There are more than 30 levels to complete, and 46 Steam achievements to unlock.

The graphics are reminiscent of the SNES era and looks a lot like some of the creations using RPGMaker. It comes as a surprise that the game was designed in Unity, a platform more commonly used for 3D gaming applications. The game looks great, but some of the controls when using the keyboard feel a bit stiff. There have been many times when my character refused to move, even when pressing firmly on the arrow buttons, which led to a frustrating death. These errors did not occur when using a game controller, though. The music is largely forgettable, and some of the sound effects annoying. I also came across one bug where a puzzle locked up while one character was stuck, walking in place, and the game refused further input until I returned to the start menu. Other problems I discovered were occasional typos and grammatical errors, and a vague storyline that didn't make a whole lot of sense.

There are a few moral issues, but they are minor. When the character gets killed, they often spin around and vanish in a puff of dust. The sorceress Nulan wears an outfit that bares her midriff, but the graphics don't provide too much in the way of detail. Finally, some of the enemies are undead creatures, including creepy-looking hands extending from the ground.

Fearful Symmetry is an interesting puzzle game with some intriguing challenges. The graphics are pleasant, but the story is lacking. The game also is fairly short – it can easily be completed in around 8 hours, possibly less. It is a pleasant diversion, but I recommend waiting for a sale.

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Christ Centered Gamer looks at video games from two view points. We analyze games on a secular level which will break down a game based on its graphics, sound, stability and overall gaming experience. If you’re concerned about the family friendliness of a game, we have a separate moral score which looks at violence, language, sexual content, occult references and other ethical issues.